True... Over ten years or so, I haven't seen much chemical degradation of the foam in the batches of helmets I've gone through, though it's a wholly different story with the little cushioning pads, straps, etc. I keep my hair trimmed fairly short, and don't use anything but shampoo and water on it. My helmets' risk are way more physical than chemical ;-) Somebody who uses a lot of other stuff on their hair may very likely have a different experience.

I still wind up replacing my helmet about every year and a half or so, simply because the pads wear out or get really ratty, or I find a "prettier" lid. While I went through a number of helmets in in younger and wilder days, I haven't actually crashed one in a little over three years now, other than getting hit by a drunk driver back last February...

And personally, I wouldn't recycle that cup from the landfill... and certainly not the sandwich. Sanitary landfills aren't really that sanitary, nor are they all that leak-proof. Lots of nasty stuff sitting down there against the liner


Tom